Check Out The Facts

Last week our country came very close to a shut down. One of the last hold ups was the Democrats pushing back on the demands of the Republicans to cut funding to Planned Parenthood.

So to defend the need to stand firm on this issue, Jon Kyl addressed the Senate and explained that well over 90 percent of Planned Parenthood’s efforts went to provide abortions. Wow, that will get the pro-life base all fired up!

Usually no one really checks facts on these types of broad assertions (remember death panels?) and Fox and other news programs quote them over and over again.

However, someone did check this time and Kyl was only 87 percent incorrect. Actually 97 percent of their efforts are to avoid the need for abortions by providing birth control information and to help assure the health of baby and mother by giving pre-natal care and then continuing to help women maintain health by giving pap smears, breast exams, etc.

Not one dollar of taxpayers’ money goes to abortions. But this kind of info does not really support the Republicans’ position, so it was not mentioned. When confronted with the truth, Kyl’s office said that his claim “was not intended to be a factual statement.” Then what was intended?

Was his intent only to motivate and inflame the emotions of others with false information? This type of manipulation of the public is pure Karl Rove strategy. Take an admirable strength of the opposition and then pervert it into something you can use against them.

Now that we are aware that truth is not always necessary in a congressman’s assertions, perhaps we will take the time to check the facts before we allow our knee-jerk emotions to make our decisions for us.

When I was a kid and made an excuse to my mother that “was not meant to be a factual statement,” I got in a lot of trouble. What happens to senators that do the same thing?